ORRINGTON – At this time of year, the Penobscot River flows dark and deep, draining the second-largest watershed in New England – and one of the most pristine.

But as the river passes through the town of Orrington, it picks up an added ingredient: mercury leaking from five landfills on the riverbank at the former HoltraChem Manufacturing Co. plant. The polluted water then flows past Bucksport and into Penobscot Bay, past the coastal tourist towns of Castine, Camden and Rockland, the big summer homes on the islands of Islesboro, North Haven and Vinalhaven, and into the fishing grounds of the Gulf of Maine.

“This is not just an Orrington issue. This river is so valuable to Maine’s economy,” said Ryan Tipping-Spitz of Bangor, an organizer with the Maine People’s Alliance, an advocacy group that has been pushing for a cleanup at HoltraChem for decades.

The mercury contamination at the plant, once described by Gov. John Baldacci as the worst hazardous waste site in the state, has been the focus of a cleanup effort dating to the 1980s.

FORT KENT, Maine — Let Capistrano keep its swallows and Hinckley, Ohio, is welcome to its buzzards. Any Mainer knows the real harbinger of spring is ice-out.

Largely regarded as the time when a body of water may be navigated from one end to the other unimpeded by ice, the seasonal event has spawned countless contests, raffles, impromptu parties, webcams and even its own Facebook fans’ page for the lakes and rivers around the state.

This year, many of Maine’s lakes are already clear of ice days and even weeks ahead of schedule.

“This year is extremely unusual,” Tim Thurston, owner of Maine Lake Charts of Gardiner, said Thursday. “I would not be surprised if every lake in Maine has a record or near record for ice-out.”

Stuff about me

My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.